Tyler Kimball - Lessgently
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Pallesia - Chapter 164 - Their return.
🕑 Added 2024-08-28 15:00:09 +0000 UTCThe next morning, Lee had a simple breakfast along with the other patrons of the inn. Afterwards, he slinked away into the early morning coming and going of the small village. As he patrolled the streets, scanning with Medical Attention to find anything that needed his special touch, Lee checked his XP and found that he would probably level again sometime tomorrow. That meant that tomorrow was the day for testing his makeshift flight spell.
Around the village, everyone appeared to be generally healthy. Some of the older residents had some minor arthritis, but that was about the worst he found as he scanned around. To heal them, Lee tapped them on the shoulder and lingered with his touch. He asked for directions which he didn’t need, and one older woman didn’t take that kindly, but she would thank him later—even if she didn’t know it was him that healed her.
All in all, an hour passed by the time Lee felt that it was his time to leave. When he was asking for directions, he was told the next settlement was the city of Galapron, and that it was over a week away. Since he wasn’t going to make it there before he learned a flight spell… Well, at least, he hoped he wouldn’t make it. He determined that some more alone time camping was in his future.
As he stepped to the side of the village gate to let several merchant/supply wagons pass, in the corner of his eye, he caught a flicker of movement. As it was early in the morning, the guards must have been extremely lax. Up along the top the surrounding wooden village wall, three teens, no older than fourteen, scampered up, kicking their feet as they struggled to pull themselves onto the top. The leader, who Lee assumed to be the oldest, got up first and checked his surroundings before helping the other two up as well.
The leader was a brawny young man, obviously used to manual labor with his very fit body and short-cut hazel hair. The second, was an average looking, stereotypical looking kid. Bland brown hair and an even build. The last, was a skeptical young man with wooden framed glasses. He was lanky and gangly, still growing into his body if Lee was to guess. He was the last up the wall and obviously nervous at a glance.
Lee frowned when he saw their next move, which was to drop down the other side of the wall, sneakily escaping the village. Before they could complete their little jailbreak, Lee identified all three.
Bron Howwie - Human - Level: 3
Eddy Sparc - Human - Level: 1
Ulric Vivikondi - Human - Level: 1
As they dropped down out of view, Lee registered what he saw.
The apparent leader of this rag-tag group of troublemakers, Bron, was level three. As he was leaving the village, bringing two friends along, Lee had a pretty good idea about what they were trying.
They were attempting to level up.
When he thought about it, this was probably something a lot of teens attempted at least once in their life. The allure of a class and the prestidge that it brought would tempt any young person—male, female, of any race. The downside was readily apparent. He didn’t know what animals or monsters made this part of Pallesia their home, but if they were anything like what he faced in the Shadowgrove, they were in for a rude awakening.
It only took two minutes to get past the lax security manning the entry and exit of the village, but two minutes was a decent head start for a bunch of kids slinking away into the forest. Since he had a day to kill, and having those kids die would weigh on his conscience, Lee decided some un-rusting to some of his unused skills were in store—Stealth and Tracking.
When he exited the village, he immediately turned left and walked alongside the wall to find where the teens had dropped down, finding it with little issue as the force of their landing created a solid set of footprints in the bare earth. Focusing on tracking them must have done something he never really noticed before, as he could clearly make out their path by the slightly bent branches and fallen leaves.
Slowly, as to not lose their trail, Lee focuses on being stealthy and followed along—like he was stalking prey.
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“Bron, I’m not sure about this…” Ulric whispered as he nervously looked around the darkened morning forest. For his entire life, he’d never left the safety of Vargus. He’d heard the stories about monsters, and even saw one once when they attacked the walls when he was with his father, but he knew for a fact that he couldn’t handle one of them. Animals were still brutal, but monsters could be anywhere.
“Ulric, trust me. I’ve done this a few times. Once you get a level under your belt and feel the effect of increasing your stats, you won’t want to stop. We just gotta find the right target.” Bron waved away his complaints, looking… overconfident if Ulric were being honest.
“Bro, you’re sure you can find an animal out here? We’ve been walking for ten minutes and I don’t even think I could find my way back. I’m fucking lost ou—-FUCK!” Eddy was cut off by a branch snapping back into his face. That was an ill omen if Ulric ever saw one.
“Maybe we should head back? You know if we get caught we’re getting the switch right?” He pleaded. Maybe fear would be a better motivator? Nobody likes the switches.
Bron turned, puffed up his chest, then beat it once. “I ain’t afraid of no switch! I’d like to see my parents try! I put all my points into strength! I’m a higher level, and that’s that. Look, I’ll show you.” Bron looked around until he found a bothersome boulder. With a great amount of effort, he wrenched it up from the earth.
Ulric frowned and shifted his eyes to watch Eddy’s reaction. To him, it looked like something Bron could have done with or without extra points. He was already strong from helping out loading wagons. Thankfully, he wasn’t crazy, and Eddy also looked unimpressed.
Bron dropped the boulder, letting it smash into the soft earth and fling dirt in both his and Eddy’s eyes. His glasses protected him, but Eddy wasn’t as lucky. A win for the visually impaired!
Before anyone could comment, the snapping of a twig off behind Bron made everyone tense. Bron, with his confidence, was willing to set foot out in the wilderness, but even he knew monsters weren’t something they could handle. Bron led the way, keeping low to the ground, crouched and ready for anything.
He peeked around a tree, then tensed. “Uhh, guys. There’s a statue?”
A statue? Elric thought. There shouldn’t be any statues out in the middle of nowhere. Bron, dumb as the rock he lifted, strolled out without a worry in the world. Eddy ran to catch up, not wanting to be left behind, so Ulric followed.
When Ulric laid eyes upon the statue, he felt a chill run down his spine. The depiction of a human man was flawless, down the clothes he wore. The pose was weird, as he looked to be crouched and prowling, not like a human at all. “Guys, I don’t like this. Let’s head back.”
Bron ignored his warnings, walked up to the statue, and tried to topple it over with a boot. It didn’t move an inch, but it also didn’t do anything. It was just a statue.
“Ulric, you baby. It’s fine. We found something cool. You can read right? You’re smart? How old do you think it is? Maybe it’s a relic from another time! Just identify it. It’s just a statue.” Bron said as he circled the statue.
(Common) Statue of a man.
That was a pretty bland description as far as things went, but Ulric walked forward slowly, coming to inspect a little closer as Eddy looked around on the ground with a furrowed brow. “I don’t read about sculptures in my free time, so I know just as much as you. But, it looks brand new? We don’t have any sculptures in town, though.”
“Ulric’s right, we should leave. I can’t find the snapped stick. It was from around here right?” Eddy said as he rubbed his arms, his furrowed brow replaced by fear.
Bron and Ulric both looked around, and what Ulric saw chilled him to the bone. “I—It’s th—There… Under the statue.”
Underneath the foot of the statue was the snapped branch. Placed in such a way that it was impossible that it could have been some random broken stick the statue was built around.
“Yeah, fuck this. I’m out. Let’s go.” Eddy said, turning to walk back to the village. Ulric easily followed along.
“Guys, it’s just a damn statue. Guys!” Bron shouted, a bad idea in the wilderness.
Eddy turned, his face a mix of fear and anger, which quickly drained of blood. He raised a hand weekly, pointing behind Bron.
Bron, knowing Eddy wasn’t a prankster, knew this wasn’t some joke. He turned, then reflexively punched the statue, which was looming over his shoulder, mouth open, showing spike-like needle teeth, in its stone face. It did nothing.
Eddy abandoned all courage and fled back to the village. Bron staggered back, falling on his ass, before scrambling and tripping over himself to flee as well. Ulric didn’t need any more hints. He ran—no, he sprinted away. Not in some sort of dignified retreat, but in full on fear. The statue was a monster!
They ran and ran, looking over their shoulders like their life depended on it. That was until Eddy screamed, high pitched and uncaring for sounding like a girl. Ulric snapped his head around, heaving breaths from both fatigue and fear, spotting another statue peeking around a tree ahead of them.
His heaves turned into hyperventilation. He crumpled as he shook violently, panicking.
Only one thought wormed through his mind.
He was going to die.
Comments
deadmo
where is 162 163?
James Squibb
What a delightful turn of events!
Wintermelody
Thanks for the Chapter
